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Take a moment to read, Enterprise migration Egreements (EMA's) are being used by resourse companies to bring in foreign labour on our resource projects, This is our future we are talking about. How many of us have friends who want to get into our resource industry but have been turned away even though they have the skills. I can tell you now more then half the blokes on the site i am on have less then that. Are they conveniently being rejected for not having 'previous experience on a mine site' to allow resource companies to create a false case to import overseas workers. Gina Rineharts Roy Hill project has received the go ahead to bring in over 1700 workers, Now Gina's Enterprise Migration Agreement involves only 100 Aborigines yet more then 1700 over seas workers. Shouldn't this be the other way around?

There are Over 30 other projects ready to apply for EMA's. Thats a lot of jobs for locals who are willing to work now and for our kids who can be trained up to fill those jobs. Now in Australia we DO NOT have a skill shortage crisis, we have a training crisis. The WA Government needs to introduce a fair levy on resource companies to contribute towards construction based training skills. In Queensland we have a levy based contribution scheme that raised over 13 million last year. Rebates on courses and tickets up to $1000. why cant this be introduced in every state?

All of the Victorian boys that are working along side me in Western Australia have to work away 4 weeks at a time, its even to hard to get a job in the city as 457's will work for peanuts. That is total garbage in my eyes, cant even get a job in your own country because companies are hiring foreign labour to fatten their wallets. Its hard enough working away 4 weeks at a time, to be away from our wife or husband, children, family and friends.

There are proposals from several projects wanting to import large numbers of 457 workers. There is one company with a proposal of more then 2,000 over seas workers including Riggers/Scaffolders/Steel Fixers and concretes for mega resource projects such as Gorgon, Wheatstone and Browse with no justification offered to demonstrate the need for these 457 workers other then a single sentece asserting 'Shortages'

As for all the boys in Victoria fighting for us, good on you all. You make myself and a large number of supporters proud. We wish we were their right beside you, i couldnt believe the media coverage that kept getting replayed over and over.The police officer who got hit, the horse who was hit, I noticed i didnt see any media coverage of the boys getting hit with batons, stomped by hoses or the 80 year old man who was pepper sprayed straight to face without provoking the offices or any warning. Goon on you boys, stand strong.

The basic message i want to get across here is if you have tried to get into the mining/construction/resources industry please send your details to; resourcejobs@cfmeuwa.com

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Lets Educate the couch sitters that don't give a f**k about the future generation. The more people that realise how serious this will spread like a cancer through the only thing that props this country up through recessions and 10 year lows. How do we recover on the next hit??

If you think this doesn't effect you because your a motor mechanic or an IT professional your kidding yourself.

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Yes a symptom globalisation and the impatient mining bosses, the industry is in a bubble, its abut to pop because large demand from countries like China has halted or hit peak demand.

Essentially its all reactive to supply and demand, so yeah it does effect everyone, we are all victims of a crap economic model.

them is the beats unfortunately.

As far as hating on "457" for working for "peanuts" goes, that is a standard that the employer sets and not the employee, lets make that clear.

Aside from that, how much lower can you go below the federal award rate without it being illegal???

Working for an engineering consultancy myself, I see the appeal for working up at the mines is greater than in the city for the sheer money factor.

You don't have to work away, no one is forcing anybody to do anything, migrant workers or otherwise...

I don't know where your getting your evidence from as far as city work goes.

Can we have some actual data/figures and not anecdotes please?

Finally on unionism in general (because that's what this is really all about), back in the day when we actually needed unionism (a few decades after the turn of the industrial revolution) it actually did work to help the downtrodden workers get fair and conditions and pay, they are now becoming ever so redundant with more democratic lobbying/participation from the community in general and helpful pieces of legislation in place etc... now days there are very little true trade unions left at all, just pseudo Mafioso political wannabe's.

Edited September 4, 2012 by HumanHefner

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Nobody's forcing me, Are you kidding? Companies are paying minimum wage simply because they know 457's will be more then happy to work for $18ph. DTMT just employed almost 600 457's for the project next to the one I'm working on, a flat rate of $23 extremely shit conditions. As for where am I getting my facts from, I work beside 20 Vic boys every day, more and more roll in here every week and they are finding it harder and harder to get work in the city.

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/\ /\ /\ put it this way.....by allowing this to continue we are allowing our resources to be not only foreign owned but all the proceeds to go offshore also. The people being paid "good money" by working onsite are about the only people in this country getting a decent slice of the money pie besides our govt. Its not like the owners of these mines need more profit from their investment.......the % returned is way more than most investments in this country. At least the workers that are Aussie spend their money here instead of sending it overseas....

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Well one could argue that another cause of the high unemployment in particular sectors and the almost total dependence on the resources industry is the distinct lack of secondary manufacturing that is going offshore.

when there is innovation in that sector I believe you will see a sharp turnaround in unemployment for all.

/\ /\ /\ put it this way.....by allowing this to continue we are allowing our resources to be not only foreign owned but all the proceeds to go offshore also. The people being paid "good money" by working onsite are about the only people in this country getting a decent slice of the money pie besides our govt. Its not like the owners of these mines need more profit from their investment.......the % returned is way more than most investments in this country. At least the workers that are Aussie spend their money here instead of sending it overseas....

I can guarantee that we send a majority of our earnings overseas regardless of what anyone thinks.

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Well one could argue that another cause of the high unemployment in particular sectors and the almost total dependence on the resources industry is the distinct lack of secondary manufacturing that is going offshore.

when there is innovation in that sector I believe you will see a sharp turnaround in unemployment for all.

/\ /\ /\ put it this way.....by allowing this to continue we are allowing our resources to be not only foreign owned but all the proceeds to go offshore also. The people being paid "good money" by working onsite are about the only people in this country getting a decent slice of the money pie besides our govt. Its not like the owners of these mines need more profit from their investment.......the % returned is way more than most investments in this country. At least the workers that are Aussie spend their money here instead of sending it overseas....

I can guarantee that we send a majority of our earnings overseas regardless of what anyone thinks.

and yet us spending a majority of our cash overseas is a much better situation than spending a bare minimum here and the rest "back home" like most if not all the 457 workers I've met.

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Well one could argue that another cause of the high unemployment in particular sectors and the almost total dependence on the resources industry is the distinct lack of secondary manufacturing that is going offshore.

when there is innovation in that sector I believe you will see a sharp turnaround in unemployment for all.

/\ /\ /\ put it this way.....by allowing this to continue we are allowing our resources to be not only foreign owned but all the proceeds to go offshore also. The people being paid "good money" by working onsite are about the only people in this country getting a decent slice of the money pie besides our govt. Its not like the owners of these mines need more profit from their investment.......the % returned is way more than most investments in this country. At least the workers that are Aussie spend their money here instead of sending it overseas....

I can guarantee that we send a majority of our earnings overseas regardless of what anyone thinks.

and yet us spending a majority of our cash overseas is a much better situation than spending a bare minimum here and the rest "back home" like most if not all the 457 workers I've met.

So of the 22million people that populate this country, what percentage are 457 workers (that is people who are here on working visas, not naturalised migrants)?

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The main issue of concern here is there are plenty of people who need a job here in Australia. What is our unemployment percentage? I have mates who are fully qualified tradesman who can not get out Here but they say there isn't enough skilled labour. Monadelphous have 200 phillipino's in training over their, more then half failed their tests and bechtel still took them off monadelphous's hands and said "hey we'll take them"

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Well one could argue that another cause of the high unemployment in particular sectors and the almost total dependence on the resources industry is the distinct lack of secondary manufacturing that is going offshore.

when there is innovation in that sector I believe you will see a sharp turnaround in unemployment for all.

/\ /\ /\ put it this way.....by allowing this to continue we are allowing our resources to be not only foreign owned but all the proceeds to go offshore also. The people being paid "good money" by working onsite are about the only people in this country getting a decent slice of the money pie besides our govt. Its not like the owners of these mines need more profit from their investment.......the % returned is way more than most investments in this country. At least the workers that are Aussie spend their money here instead of sending it overseas....

I can guarantee that we send a majority of our earnings overseas regardless of what anyone thinks.

and yet us spending a majority of our cash overseas is a much better situation than spending a bare minimum here and the rest "back home" like most if not all the 457 workers I've met.

So of the 22million people that populate this country, what percentage are 457 workers (that is people who are here on working visas, not naturalised migrants)?

1%? 10%? 20%?

When you figure out the ratio of people that are naturalised to what is effectively a working tourist, and scale that against how much we spend overseas you tell me if your argument stands up.

I and this situation is mostly only about the workers working in the resources industry sector..................not the whole population but it is the whole population that needs to have an opinion AND express it on this situation that is happening under their nose. I'm not anti 457 worker but I am anti flooding a labour market with cheap labour and passing it off as necessary.

Edited September 5, 2012 by datsun180

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Exactly datsun, good on you mate. If you know anybody who wants to or has tried to get out here, email the above address so we can have a fair crack at this fight. Let's show them we have thousands of people ready to get out here. Spend money on training here, not over seas.

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457 is the immigration visa number for work permits given to foreign workers.......I have watched the agriculture industry be riddled with them in the last 10 years and it has not been good for quality of workmanship or economy our generally getting decent work for the dollar they get paid.

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Look at the manufacturing industry, and what cheap over seas labour has done to products that use to be made here. How many times do you hear of labour shortages across the board? It's corporate greed and if you think it won't spread your nieve. Unfortunately the high Australia dollar isn't helping with the cost of labour here either. Opening these doors will eventually cripple our income when some fob decides to do the job at half the price.

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i only recently finished a adult fitting apprentichip, 6 months ago i could have gotten an awesome job in the hunter valley earning good money.... but now that my trade papers finally came through i cant get anything! my plan of earning some big bucks is not looking good

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i only recently finished a adult fitting apprentichip, 6 months ago i could have gotten an awesome job in the hunter valley earning good money.... but now that my trade papers finally came through i cant get anything! my plan of earning some big bucks is not looking good

time to specialise and create your own market

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i only recently finished a adult fitting apprentichip, 6 months ago i could have gotten an awesome job in the hunter valley earning good money.... but now that my trade papers finally came through i cant get anything! my plan of earning some big bucks is not looking good

Good on you mate, there's a few big projects starting up in the new year. Be sure to email your details through.

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i only recently finished a adult fitting apprentichip, 6 months ago i could have gotten an awesome job in the hunter valley earning good money.... but now that my trade papers finally came through i cant get anything! my plan of earning some big bucks is not looking good

time to specialise and create your own market

im already way specialized but so sick of the same thing (hydraulic torque wrench repairs) i just want a normal fitting job

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Manual labour and manufacturing jobs are wayyyyy overpaid in Australia to allow business to be competitive.

And it's purely this reason as to why most Australian companies have moved their core business offshore.

Labour government and the unions are about the workers, but in the process they are screwing everything so bad IMO... In the long run all these workers that are cashing in on whatever the latest fad is are the ones that are going to suffer when all their jobs are taken by OS workers.

Truth is Gina is right ($2 is obviously an exaggeration to get her point across) - labour workers need to be paid realistically in accordance with the rest of the world, it will allow for jobs to stay in australia hopefully encourage businesses to grow and bring work back into Australia.